Vehicle-brake.



' PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

P. SHOWALTBR.

VEHICLE BRAKE. v APPLICATION FILED AUG. 17. 1907.

mafiz v PETER I-I. SHOWALTER, OF NORTH RIVER, VIRGINIA.

VEHICLE -BRAKE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 18, 1908.

Application filed August 17 1907. Serial No. 389.043.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER H. SI-IOWALTER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at North River, in the county of Rockingham and Stateof Virginia, have invented a new and useful Vehicle-Brake, of which thefollowing is a specification. i

This invention relates to vehicle brakes for use especially on farmwagons, but it is equally applicable on other forms of horse drawnvehicles.

The main object of this invention is to provide a simple, powerful andsure rear wheel brake that is automatically thrown into action, when thevehicle, to which it is applied, is on a down grade and the pole horsesare holding back, the arrangement is such that the tighter the horsesare held in the greater will be the degree of power applied to thewheels by the brake shoes. The brake device is also valuable on ordinaryoccasions as in the act of stopping the horses, the brake issimultaneously applied to the rear wheels and brings the vehicle to ahalt.

In one form of construction, the rear hounds are extended back as far asthe peripheries of the rear wheels, to which hounds the brake levers areattached. Another method is to pivot the brake levers to the rear of theWagon box byjlong vertical bolts reinforced by blocks or metal tubesoutside the body and surrounding the bolts.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises certainnovel combination, arrangement and construction of parts hereinafterdescribed and definitely pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing :Figure 1 is a top plan view of the runninggear of a wagon with the improved brake mechanism applied thereto. Fig.2 is a perspective view of the front end of the wagon pole showing adetail of the invention in connection therewith. Fig. 3 is a rear viewof an ordinary wagon with the brake levers attached in a modified way tothe rear of the body.

Similar numerals of reference are used to designate the same parts onall the fi ures.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the (.rawing, the numeral 1 indicates therear axle, and. 2 the front axle centrally pivoted to the forward end ofthe reach-bar 3 by the king bolt 4. The rear axle 1 is connected rigidlyto the reach bar 3 byrear hounds 5, one on each side, fastened togetherand to the reach bar in front of the axle by a plate 7. The houndsdiverge thence rearwardly past the rear axle to which they are fastenedto a point about in line with the peripheries of the rear wheels 8. As afurther means of strength, braces 6 extend from the ends of the axle 1forward to the hounds'and a bar 9 extends transversely from hound tohound near their rear ends. As will be observed, the hounds 5 terminatenear the rear wheels in position to receive the fulcrum bolts 11 of thebrake levers 12 carrying brake shoes 13 on their outer ends.

On each side of the reach bar 3 is a metal rod 14 parallel thereto andretained in place by loops or guides 15 attached to the reach. The rearends of the rods 14 are each pivotally connected to the inner end of abrake lever 12.while at their forward ends they are connected togetherin front of the reach by an are shaped loop 16 the axis of which is thecenter of the king bolt 4.

The pole 17 of the wagon is attached in the usual way to forward hounds18 which latter are fastened to the front axle 2 through the center ofwhich and the forward end of the reach bar 3 the king bolt 4 is placed.Below the pole 17 and suspended in supports 19 is a rod 20 its rear endloosely connected to the loop 16, and its forward end 21, bent up atright angles projects through a vertical slot 22 near the forward end ofthe pole. The rod21 is finished with an eye 23 just above the pole towhich are attached chains 24 leading to the collars of the pole horses.

In the modified form of the invention represented in Fig. 3 the rearwagon irons 25 extend down the outside of the box 26 against bearingblocks 27 and through the brake lever 12 to form pivots for said brakelevers. When it is desired to stop a vehicle equipped with the abovedescribed brake, the horses are restrained or puller thereby causingthem to decrease their speed or come to a practical stop. This action ofthe horses draws the chains 24 and the rod 20 v rod 20 for operating therods 14, the pole or tongue 17 may be made to slide in the forwardhounds and be connected to the loop 16.

If desired the brake may be operated by a hand mechanism such asrepresented in Fig. 1 where a brake shaft 28 extends across the rearhounds in front of the rear axle, and has a lever arm 29 attachedthereto extending above the wagon body. Short arms on the brake shaft 28are connected by links to each rod 14 for moving them when the brake arm29 is manipulated.

In a brake for vehicles, a brake lever for each rear wheel pivotallyattached at an intermediate point to the rear end of each rear hound, alongitudinal rod attached to the inner end of each brake lever, saidrods extending forwardly beyond the front axle and joined by acurvedloop, and a slidable rod attached to said loop and extending near theforward end of the pole and having means thereon for attaching said rodto the collars of the pole horses.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

PETER H. SHOWALTER.

Witnesses:

JNo. M. FLoRY. D. O. DIOHERT.

